Flyers Extend Former First-Round Pick for Eight Years

The new deal, with a cap hit of $8.75M, begins in the 2025-2026 season and keeps him in Philly until 2032-2033.

It’s a big raise from his previous $5.5M cap hit and is now the most lucrative deal in Flyers’ history, surpassing Mike Richards’ 12-year, $69M contract from 2008.

Konecny had an impressive season in 2023-2024 with a career-high of 68 points from 33 goals and 35 assists over 76 games.

He averaged nearly 20 minutes per game and was especially strong at even strength, scoring most of his points during these situations. His six short-handed goals led the league last season. Despite not being his best offensive year technically (that was the previous year with a higher points-per-game average), he showed consistency and versatility by excelling as a penalty killer under John Tortorella.

Contract Details:

Starting next season, Konecny will have the highest cap hit on the Flyers roster. Fans might be surprised by this rich deal but it’s not seen as an overpay for his market value. He’ll make $7M in actual cash for the final year of his current contract before this extension kicks in.

Back in May, Kevin Kurz from The Athletic thought Timo Meier’s eight-year extension would be a good comparison for Konecny’s negotiations. Evolving-Hockey also projected an extension with a similar cap hit around $8.8M.

Flyers’ Offseason Moves:

This is Konecny’s second long-term deal; he signed a six-year contract worth $33M back in 2019. This new max-term extension joins others given to players like Juuse Saros, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Jaccob Slavin since the league calendar turned to 2024-2025.

Fans might think this move is huge for the Flyers’ offseason plans but getting Matvei Michkov signed to an entry-level contract is also crucial. Michkov will likely play behind Konecny on the right wing when the season starts.

Future Salary Cap Considerations:

With this extension, Flyers are looking at a projected cap hit of $73.55M for the 2025-2026 season with room to spare under an expected salary cap increase to around $92M. This leaves them some flexibility for new deals for young talents like Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, Morgan Frost, and Cameron York.

Since being drafted by Philadelphia in 2015, Konecny has scored 174 goals and made 226 assists totaling up to 400 points across his career so far.

What do you think about this big move?